SEE A list of ALL presidential aspirants for Nigeria’s 2019 general elections

As the 2019 general elections draw near, and the widespread social media campaign for citizens to get their Permanent Voters Card intensifies, a number of people have a few questions on their lips, “Who do we vote for?” or “What are our options?” Questions that imply that although a lot of people are tired of the current administration and its antics, as they should, they are unaware of the options before them and are therefore reluctant to get their PVC’s and actually head out to vote when the time comes.
Below is the list as was tweeted:

Kingsley Moghalu – 55 years old

-Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at Tufts University
-Attended UNN and LSE (PhD)
-President of the Institute of Governance and Economic Transformation
-Former United Nations official

-Former CBN deputy governor

 

 Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

Kwankwaso is a serving senator representing Kano Central at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly and was a presidential aspirant in the last general election. A former governor of Kano state, who served the state from 1999-2003 and 2011-2015 respectively, he is said to have turned around Kano through laudable physical infrastructural development, especially during his second tenure.

Although Kwankwaso has been quiet for a while, his political network is not only intact but vibrant across the country. His political trademark, the Kwankwasiyya, which he established before the 2011 general elections is even expanding to other states. In the event he goes for the presidency, his large followership in Kano, Kaduna and other states in the North would give him added advantage especially if he picks a running mate from the South.

What will work against him is if decides to remain in APC, and President Buhari decides to go for a second term. He has now defected to PDP

Fela Durotoye – 46 years old

-Public speaker and business strategist
-BSc. Computer Science and Economics, and MBA/MSc. Business Strategy from Obafemi Awolowo University
-Look up the Mushin Makeover Project

Donald Duke – -56 years old

-LLB from Ahmadu Bello University, LLM from the University of Pennsylvania
-Former Commissioner for Finance and Planning
-Former Governor of Cross River
-Initiated the Tinapa Free Zone & Resort, and the Calabar Carnival

 

 

  Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

The one-time vice president has never kept hidden his presidential ambition. Atiku had contested the 2007 presidential election on the platform the defunct Action Congress (AC) after realizing that he could not get the PDP ticket because of his frosty relationship with former President Obasanjo. Also, the APC chieftain had contested the presidential ticket with former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and with then-candidate Buhari in 2014 on different platforms.

The action, body language and utterances of the Turakin Adamawa are enough to show seriousness. He has already won the admiration of some in the South-south and South-east with a consistent advocacy for true federalism, calls considered to be subtle campaigns ahead of 2019, especially if President Buhari decides not to run.

Atiku maintains a vibrant media office with many staff who ensure he is a constant participator in national discourse. The Turaki is also noted to be a “big spender” when it comes to pursuing his interests, giving the PDP and ex-president Obasanjo a tough time by dragging them to court several times when they attempted to tame him in the past.

 

Dankwmbo was born on the 4 April 1962 at Gombe. He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1985 with a degree in Accounting. He obtained a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos in 1992 and a PhD in Accounting from Igbinedion University. He began his career with Coopers & Lybrand in 1985, and worked at the Central Bank of Nigeria from 1988 to 1999. He was then appointed Accountant General of Gombe State, holding this position until 2005. He was appointed Accountant – General of the Federation on 20 April 2005. He held this office until he resigned to start his campaign for election as Governor of Gombe State January 2011.
In the 26 April 2011 election, Dankwambo won 596,481 votes, ahead of Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) with 91,781 votes and Senator Sa'idu Umar Kumo of the All Nigeria People's Party with 84,959 votes.
As a Governor, Dankwambo lost his deputy Mr. David Miyims Albashi,who died on 4 November 2011 in a German hospital of injuries he sustained in a car crash on August 28 on November 4, 2011. On the 17 December 2011 Alhaji Dankwambo appointed Mr. Tha'anda Rubainu as Deputy Governor. After his re-election in 2015, Charles Iliya has been his deputy governor.

Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies – 55 years old

-Professor of Language and Communication Arts at the Rivers State University of Education
-Degrees from the Universities of Ilorin, Port Harcourt, and Northwestern University
-Founded the Agape Bible Church

Muhammadu Buhari – 75 years old

-Current President of Nigeria
-Left secondary school to the army at age 19
-Military Head of State from 1983-1985
-Somehow we put him back in office
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Remi Sonaiya – 63 years old

-Retired professor of French Language and Applied Linguistics at Obafemi Awolowo University
-Degrees from Obafemi Awolowo University and Cornell University
-Was the only female candidate in the 2015 presidential election

Thomas-Wilson Ikubese – 47 years old

-Chief Medical Director of Sckye Hospital and Diagnostics Limited
-Attended the University of Benin School of Medicine and Surgery
-Also a poet, motivational speaker, radio and television presenter

Omoyele Sowore – 47 years old

-Founder and owner of Sahara Reporters
-Degrees from the University of Lagos and Columbia University
-Lecturer at the City University of New York and the School of Arts, New York
-Also a writer, public speaker, and human rights activist

Enyinnaya Nnaemeka Nwosu – 40 years old

-Former lecturer at West George College
-Degrees from Asia State University and Robert Gordon University
-Worked with the Royal Bank of Scotland, SERCO Group, the Legal Aid Agency, and Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals in the UK

Ahmed Buhari – 40 years old

-CEO of Skylar Inc.
-Degrees from the Federal University of Technology, and Cavendish College, London

Peter Ayodele Fayose – 57 years old

Adesanya Fegbenro-Bryon – 59 years old

-Chairman/CEO of Mothergold Limited, Chief Responsibility Officer for Mothergold Consulting
-Degrees from the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University
-Former regional coordinator for the Department for International Development

Charles Udeogaranya – 46 years old

-Former Lagos State chairman of the defunct African Renaissance Party
-Now a chieftain of the APC

Mathias Tsado – 41 years old

-CEO of Matstrutt Nigeria Ltd.
-BSc. Mech. Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Minna
-Set up the Hope Platform Initiative
-Say he can provide Nigerians with 16-18 hours of constant power within his first two to three years in office

Eniola Ojajuni – 39 years old

-Businessman and consultant on imports, exports, and investments
-LLB from Lagos State University, MBA from Ghana Business School
-Previously ran for the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Governorship of Ondo

Olu James Omosule – 48 years old

-Attended the City University of New York before dropping out to take care of his ill grandmother
-Former Chief Officer for Scope America Outreach in the US

-Served as General Manager for several US firms

Tope Fasua – 47 years old

-CEO of Global Analytics Consulting Ltd.
-Degrees from Ondo State University, London Business School, and Harvard Business School
-National Chairman of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP)
-Also a newspaper columnist and TV analyst

Sule Lamido – 69 years old

-Attended Barewa College
-Former Governor of Jigawa from 2007-2015
-Former foreign minister from 1999-2003
-Briefly jailed and stood trial with his two sons in 2015 for embezzling state funds, blamed his enemies

. Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki

Saraki is one of the politicians that are likely to contest for the presidency come 2019. In 2015, he was one of the presidential aspirants of the APC but dropped the ambition two months before the party’s primaries in 2014.

Saraki, a two-time governor of Kwara state is in a better position to vie for the presidency in view of his position as number three citizen of the country. With senators at his beck and call, he may go for the big seat. At present, he has the firm control of lawmakers, and his youthfulness and mien are added advantages, and also for the fact that he is from the North-central tells a lot when it comes to political balancing.

But Saraki’s squabbling with his party, the APC, may negate his chances to clinch the ticket if he runs. He defeated his party in 2015 as a result of his romance with the PDP to emerge as the Senate president. That wound is yet to heal despite the recent consideration of Senator Ahmad Lawan as the Senate Leader. Lawan was the preferred candidate of the APC for the Senate presidency.

 Tambuwal, immediate-past Speaker of the House of Reps, was to contest for president during the 2015 when some of his friends reportedly obtained the APC presidential form for him to participate in the primary. He later shelved the idea and went ahead to contest for the Sokoto State governorship seat, and won.

As part of future plans to realize his presidential ambition, the 51-year-old lawyer succeeded in installing his successor in the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara. He also succeeded in expanding his political base among federal lawmakers from all parts of the country. Described as astute and shrewd politician by many, he leaves no-one in doubt that he would certainly go for the top job in the country in the future, which could be 2019.

In the event Buhari seeks a second term, he may likely shelve the ambition until 2023, considering the fact that age is on his side. But a major hurdle to cross for Tambuwal would be getting the support of the South-west, who see him someone who ‘abandoned’ their own, Femi Gbajabiamila, for the position of Speaker, even though the latter played a crucial role in his (Tambuwal) emergence as Speaker in 2011, against all odds.

At some point, the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who did not only support Tambuwal in 2011 but also ensured that all opposition lawmakers voted for him as Speaker, was said to be “very angry with Tambuwal” for that perceived slight.

Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal,  picked up the presidential nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Tambuwal who defected from the ruling APC to PDP on August 1st, stormed the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the opposition party in Abuja with his supporters  to pick up the nomination form

Tambuwal alongside Bukola Saraki, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, Ibrahim Dankwambo would be vying for the PDP presidential ticket at the primaries holding on October 6th.

 

 Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi

Senator Ahmed Makarfi was governor of Kaduna state from 1999 to 2007. Within the eight years he was in office, he was able to mitigate religious and ethnic violence in the state and has through that feat projected himself as an objective and fair-minded leader. His outstanding performance in the state shot him into national limelight, seeing him clinch a seat at the Senate in 2007, even though he lost the bid to return a third time in 2015. But by then, his profile in the PDP had risen and party members appointed him chairman of the party at a convention which held in Port-Harcourt last year.

Since then he has been battling for the position with former governor of Borno state, Ali Modu Sheriff. As the PDP has made it clear that its presidential candidate in the 2019 elections would be from the North, there is the possibility that given the trust key members of the party -- especially serving governors -- have in him, and given his image as an objective leader and acceptability across geopolitical divides, he might be convinced to run for the party’s presidential ticket in 2019. He recently said in an interview in Lagos that he may likely go for the No.1 office. However, his handicap may likely be the platform, because it is not yet clear if the PDP will ever be the same again.

But it was gathered that Makarfi’s faction of the party is seeking for the registration of a new platform, the Advanced Peoples Democratic Party (APDP). If they succeed, he may easily get the ticket and slug it out with anyone paraded by the APC or other parties.